Passaic woman’s death at Paterson house in June remains a mystery

By JOE MALINCONICO

Paterson Press

PATERSON – Police officers responding to a report of domestic violence on the city’s East Side came upon a trail of blood at 75 East 38th St., beginning on the ground outside the house and continuing on to the patio, police reports show.

Paterson Press file photo

The Paterson house where 33-year-old Jelmy Reinoso's body was found.

The officers’ followed the blood through the front door and eventually into a dark hallway, near a bedroom, where they found the half-clothed body of 33-year-old Jelmy Reinoso of Passaic. Scattered around her was glass from a nearby broken window, police reports say.

Police almost immediately treated the June 13 incident as a homicide and listed the woman’s boyfriend, in whose home she was found, as their only suspect, the reports say.

But less than 24 hours after Reinoso’s body was discovered, the police department issued a brief press release saying she had died in an accident. It was their first and only official public statement on the case.

The press release, just three sentences long, did not divulge the circumstances of the accident. Nor did it disclose that authorities originally thought Reinoso had been a homicide victim.

In an effort to find out what happened to Reinoso, Paterson Press in June filed a public records request for the police reports from the incident. The 19 pages of documents released by the city this week reveal a bizarre and bloody incident, one still cloaked in mystery as well as tragedy. For example, the reports say that Reinoso’s boyfriend was at police headquarters pressing charges against her at the very moment that patrol officers found her dead.

But even the police incident reports do not say exactly how Reinoso died. Authorities simply have said that their investigation determined that Reinoso’s death was not a homicide.

Capt. Heriberto Rodriguez, the supervisor of the city police detectives who investigated Reinoso’s death, declined to provide any other details beyond those in the reports, saying he wanted to respect the privacy of the deceased.

“We have no evidence to believe the boyfriend caused her death and no reason to prosecute him,” said Rodriguez. “At the moment, this appears to be a tragic accident.”

The woman’s boyfriend, who is 51, could not be reached for comment. His name is not being published because authorities say he is no longer a suspect in the killing.

The officers’ reports say Reinoso’s boyfriend had showed up at Paterson police headquarters at about 9:10 p.m. on June 13, about the same time that patrol units were on their way to his house at the corner of 11th Avenue to answer a call about domestic violence.

The boyfriend told police he wanted to file domestic violence charges against Reinoso because she had come home drunk and was punching him and attacking him with the chord from a cell phone charger. He said Reinoso threatened to call police and to tell them he hit her, the reports said. So the boyfriend decided to go to the police himself, the reports said.

The officers’ reports also said that the couple may have gone to police headquarters several days earlier to report that an ex-girlfriend of the man had been harassing Reinoso.

In speaking to police, the boyfriend said he had shut off the electricity in the house before he left because Reinoso was breaking things and he wanted to stop her from doing any more damage. The reports filed by the officers who went to the house said they found it dark, without power. One of the officers used a flashlight to continue the search for Reinoso’s body, according to the reports.

While police headquarters, the boyfriend told police he had just gotten a text message from Reinoso saying she had cut her face, the reports say. One of the officers speaking with the boyfriend then called for an ambulance to go to the home.

The boyfriend then started filling out a “probable cause statement” in order to file charges against Reinoso. While he was doing that, a call came over the police radio from the East 38th Street house, the reports said.

The officers at the house reported finding “a crime scene with a lot of blood” and a “deceased female,” the reports say. The reports say that officers at police headquarters at that point placed the boyfriend under arrest and brought him to the detective bureau for further questioning. Within a day, the investigation concluded without any charges being filed against the boyfriend.

Passaic woman’s death at Paterson house in June remains a mystery

PATERSON – Police officers responding to a report of domestic violence on the city’s East Side came upon a trail of blood at 75 East 38th St., beginning on the ground outside the house and continuing on to the patio, police reports show.

The officers’ followed the blood through the front door and eventually into a dark hallway, near a bedroom, where they found the half-clothed body of 33-year-old Jelmy Reinoso of Passaic. Scattered around her was glass from a nearby broken window, police reports say.

Police almost immediately treated the June 13 incident as a homicide and listed the woman’s boyfriend, in whose home she was found, as their only suspect, the reports say.

But less than 24 hours after Reinoso’s body was discovered, the police department issued a brief press release saying she had died in an accident. It was their first and only official public statement on the case.

The press release, just three sentences long, did not divulge the circumstances of the accident. Nor did it disclose that authorities originally thought Reinoso had been a homicide victim.

In an effort to find out what happened to Reinoso, Paterson Press in June filed a public records request for the police reports from the incident. The 19 pages of documents released by the city this week reveal a bizarre and bloody incident, one still cloaked in mystery as well as tragedy. For example, the reports say that Reinoso’s boyfriend was at police headquarters pressing charges against her at the very moment that patrol officers found her dead.

But even the police incident reports do not say exactly how Reinoso died. Authorities simply have said that their investigation determined that Reinoso’s death was not a homicide.

Capt. Heriberto Rodriguez, the supervisor of the city police detectives who investigated Reinoso’s death, declined to provide any other details beyond those in the reports, saying he wanted to respect the privacy of the deceased.

“We have no evidence to believe the boyfriend caused her death and no reason to prosecute him,” said Rodriguez. “At the moment, this appears to be a tragic accident.”

The woman’s boyfriend, who is 51, could not be reached for comment. His name is not being published because authorities say he is no longer a suspect in the killing.

The officers’ reports say Reinoso’s boyfriend had showed up at Paterson police headquarters at about 9:10 p.m. on June 13, about the same time that patrol units were on their way to his house at the corner of 11th Avenue to answer a call about domestic violence.

The boyfriend told police he wanted to file domestic violence charges against Reinoso because she had come home drunk and was punching him and attacking him with the chord from a cell phone charger. He said Reinoso threatened to call police and to tell them he hit her, the reports said. So the boyfriend decided to go to the police himself, the reports said.

The officers’ reports also said that the couple may have gone to police headquarters several days earlier to report that an ex-girlfriend of the man had been harassing Reinoso.

In speaking to police, the boyfriend said he had shut off the electricity in the house before he left because Reinoso was breaking things and he wanted to stop her from doing any more damage. The reports filed by the officers who went to the house said they found it dark, without power. One of the officers used a flashlight to continue the search for Reinoso’s body, according to the reports.

While police headquarters, the boyfriend told police he had just gotten a text message from Reinoso saying she had cut her face, the reports say. One of the officers speaking with the boyfriend then called for an ambulance to go to the home.

The boyfriend then started filling out a “probable cause statement” in order to file charges against Reinoso. While he was doing that, a call came over the police radio from the East 38th Street house, the reports said.

The officers at the house reported finding “a crime scene with a lot of blood” and a “deceased female,” the reports say. The reports say that officers at police headquarters at that point placed the boyfriend under arrest and brought him to the detective bureau for further questioning. Within a day, the investigation concluded without any charges being filed against the boyfriend.